Nothing too exciting, but some cuteness

Here's some new pictures for all of you Oden fans out there. There really hasn't been too much going on around here lately. We've just been enjoying the warm weather, when we can, and snuggling on those crazy Illinois cold days! I wish the weather would just decide already on which season it is!! One day it feels like summer, and the next day we're in the Arctic Tundra!! Jess and I are getting ready to go on vacation, which is exciting to us! We leave for Las Vegas this Friday and return on Monday. Oden will be staying with Grandpa and Grandma Dee Dee. I already know we will miss him horribly, but he will be in good hands. It's only a couple of days anyways! Other than that, I swear he is on the verge of talking. If we could stop giving him his binky, I bet he would be doing better. It's just such a comfort, for Jess and I!! Soon enough he will be talking. I suppose there's really no need to rush it.


Oden and Grandpa Dee Dee holding hands at the park.

All up in Grandma Dee Dee's grill! haha!

Helping Oden fly his first kite. So cute!

White Sox baby!

White Sox baby eating Thomas White Sox baby retrieving the Thomas he hid under the couch. This is one of his new antics. He puts toys under the couch and then does a search and rescue!
Oh, so sleepy!
He so cuddly, cozy in the mornings!

Yay for wedding proposals!

Oden had a small part in a wedding proposal over the weekend. On Friday our friend Ian came over and we attempted to take some pictures of Oden holding a sign proposing to our cousin, Jen Hogan. It took quite a while to get a decent picture, but in the end Ian took one that he liked and wanted to use for their special moment. We were flattered to be part of such a special event. So the story goes..... Ian posted the picture on Jen's computer background so when she looked at her computer she took a double take and by the time she looked at Ian he was one one knee with an absolutely gorgeous ring!! She said, "YES!", of course. Ian and Jen are a couple of our favorite people and we wish them all the best. Congrats Jen and Ian!!!

We were trying so hard to get a good pose.

This is the one Ian chose. I'm sooo glad he got one he liked!!

On a less exciting note, we are just loving the warmer weather lately! Finally, a chance to get out of the house and let Oden stretch his legs!! He LOVES being outside. Here are some pictures of a few of our recent days outside.

This day it was still a little cold out, but it didn't phase him at all!

Playing bubbles with Kerri and LaneyDad chasing Oden to the end of the drive, he runs here often."Let me in your car Dad!"Loving the swings at Renwick Park You can't go down that way, silly!

"I am the King of this playground!!"

Just hanging out in the firetruck with Auntie Olivia.

Baby Baldy

So yesterday, Oden went to my mom's house (Grandma KiKi). When I returned to her house she had given him a haircut. Not just a trim, she cut off the baby hawk!! She chopped off the back half of it and cut about an inch off the top. Apparently, she didn't like the way it looked. AHHHH!! Jess and I had talked about Oden having a mohawk before he was even born! Needless to say, we were upset. All has been discussed with my mother, and I feel confident that nothing like this will happen in the future. Luckily, it is hair and it will grow back. Plus, his hair grows like wild fire! He's already had about half a dozen haircuts.

Ironically, I had a little photo shoot with him just before we left the house. His hair looked sooo cool that day. So here are some pics pre and post hawk removal :( so sad.

BEFORE:

Healthy, punk rock baby boy

AFTER:
Our poor cancer-looking baby

Newbies

I know this is what everyone craves ...... new pics!!! I'm going to try to post as many as possible the next week or two because I accepted a position at an insurance company, and am going to assume I will not have much time to post. So enjoy them while you can :)

Still loving this little 4-wheeler!

Trying to eat his baby blankie


More pooping! I just think it's funny how he hides now!

Wrestling with his monkey balloon! Silly monkeys!

Chuck E. Cheesetrip with dad!! So much fun!!

Smarty Pants

Here is the video that I promised. For about a week or so, Oden was obsessed with this toy lawnmower. There was one time when I was vacuuming and he ran and grabbed it so he could push it along side of me. He thought he was vacuuming too! It was SOOO cute. This isn't a video of that particular event, but it is equally as cute. You can really see how smart he is getting.

new pictures

Hello everyone! I just wanted to let you know that Oden is doing great! He is getting so big and so smart. So here are some new pictures of him for you :) I have a great video that I PROMISE to post later in the week.

"Baby Hawk"

Up close and personal....
I love these monster jammies with matching slippers!

Grandma DeeDee and Odee at the Superbowl party

Odee finding a secret spot to poop!

Walking outside for the first time!! He loves it!!

Valentine's Day with Grandpa DeeDee....AWWW!

Sorry I've been slacking.....

WOW! It's been almost 2 weeks since my last post. I'm sorry. I have no excuses, just pure laziness (or at least as lazy as you can possibly be with this kid running around!!). I also forgot to post his updates after his last doctors appointment (which was January 6th). So as of then, he was 30 inches tall, and he weighed 22 lb. 10 oz. So, he is doing great. He is starting to talk a tiny, tiny bit. He will say (only when he wants to) things that sound like "Hi Kitty", "Up", and "All Done". He is getting so smart. It's awesome to watch him grow.

Here's a video of Oden playing with Uncle Mikey:

Random picture of Oden sleeping, yes he was actually sleeping like this!! LOL!

Just thought I would mention that I love all of your comments. We haven't been getting many lately so..... maybe if you comment I would be more motivated to post more often?!?! =)

MORE ODEE <3

Hello! I posted a bunch of new pictures today on my facebook. There's this cool option that I just noticed where you can share your albums with others, even if they don't have a facebook account. It is way easier to upload pics on facebook than the blog, so here are the links to lots more of our favorite baby dude:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14961&l=e620b&id=1167392071

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14948&l=84310&id=1167392071

I hope this works!!

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY ODEE!

I still can hardly believe it. My baby boy is a year old. Funny how time flies when you're having fun :)

On Oden's actual birthday, we had a small get together at our house with all of him Grandma's, Grandpa's, Aunt's, and Uncle's. And by small I mean 17 people (He is such a lucky boy). It was awesome watching everyone interact. Our families get along like peas and carrots, and that makes us very happy. So, we hung out, ate pizza, opened a couple huge presents (a basketball hoop, a baby car, and a 4-wheeler), and then ate cake. This was the only time we let him have the opportunity to dig into a cake. I think he liked it, but was full from pizza. It was very cute, and not horrible to clean up. Which I was thankful for. He was the cutest baby birthday boy ever (I am not bias at all).

Then this past Saturday we had a huge party for him at Brunswick Zone in Romeoville. Everyone was able to bowl or play games, and have a great time. Oden was such a good boy all day. I planned the party for the perfect time of the day, which was after nap time. I only saw him here and there, he really let everyone hang out with him. It was awesome. Thank you for everyone who came out for Oden's big day(s). He is so loved, and we are so blessed to have all of you in our lives. Sorry that I didn't post more pictures. But as you can probably imagine, I had quite a few to choose from. Please let me know if you have any good ones from the parties, you can never have too many memories :)
ENJOY!

Birthday morning, still in jammies. Did you notice his mohawk is back?!

Playing on his zebraLoving his WonderPets ball pit! Thanks Mags!
Eating PaPa John's!! YUMMY!

Birthday boy, and Birthday Grammy. So sweet.

He didn't know how to blow it out, but he had some help.
I don't know about this....

He loves this little car! I can't wait to play with it outside!

Brunswick party.....getting ready for cake
I love this baby dude!He liked riding this motorcycle

Our Christmas Story

Christmas this year was amazing, and it flew by way to quickly. I believe that we did a good job spending time with everyone we love. We were able to see everyone, at least once, but in most cases multiple times. We have been so many places this last couple of weeks. I am going to attempt and summarize, so please bare with me. Saturday, December 13th, we went to a Christmas party at The Hogan household. I briefly mentioned this party in a previous blog. The party was a lot of fun. Minus when Laura's Mother, Eileen, fell in front of the house and had to be taken to the hospital. That part was horrible, but the party as a whole was very nice. Our next Christmas party was the following Saturday (December 20) . This one was held in Darien at Deb's Uncle Stanley's house. I remember it being bitterly cold that day. It was a nice cozy party with a few family members. The meal was excellent thanks to Uncle Mark and Aunt Carol. Oden really enjoyed the stairs in the house (how unusual). Next comes Christmas Eve. Jess started the day by taking Oden out of the house for a couple of hours. They had come father and son time, while I had some time to myself. Then they returned with gifts for me! YAY! It was sooooo sweet! After lunch we headed to my Mom's house. It was very low-key, and a little bit of calm before the storm :) From my Mom's, we went straight to The Bush household in Morris. With the crazy weather the couple of days prior, all of the roads and driveways were sheets of ice. It is not so much fun carrying a 30 pound kid on ice, just FYI. When we arrived Oden was very crabby. It took him a while to warm up to everyone, and just have fun. It was a very pleasant evening. The only thing that would've made it better would've been Grandma Mary and Grandpa Frank being there. They were there in our hearts though. And we were very happy to see the McFarland's. We were able to meet Kristin's husband, Jacob. We were also able to see baby Chaela. She is just the cutest thing!! It was wonderful seeing EVERYONE :) After that party we came home to wait for Santa. Oden slept til about 7am Christmas morning, which was a treat. We opened our stockings and presents, then got ready and started making the rounds. We started and Grandpa Scott and Grammy Mary's house. Then we went to Grandma and Grandpa DeeDee's, then Grandma Laura and PaPa Joe's, and finally Grandma KiKi's. It was quite a full morning! Oden was is a good mood and was being very cute. I think he knew it was a special day. And of course he got spoiled rotten. We have more toys than we know what to do with, and we still have his birthday tomorrow, and party on Saturday!! We are going to be swimming in toys. Thank you everyone for being so generous to our baby dude. We love that you love him so much. We are so lucky to have you in our lives. I'm sorry if I left out any important stories in out Christmas activities. I just really wanted to make a general log of our events. I'm also sorry that I left out so many pictures. There are too many good ones to choose. These are just a few of my favorites. Thanks again everyone, for making Oden's First Christmas so memorable. I can't wait to tell him all about it.

Getting tired on Christmas Eve

Chaela thinks Oden's binky looks delicious!

Cousins....plus babies....plus significant others <3

Our baby Elf on Christmas morning

Breakfast at Grammy's

Here PaPa you take this bow!

I love my Daddy

Oden and Aunt Linda, checking out the mesmerizing Christmas village

Our house on Christmas morning......